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Just like all teachers are reading teachers regarless of content, all teachers are writing teachers. If content teachers understood that writing about your learning encodes it in your brain and helps put new learning into long term storage, I think they would use it more often. I also think that short responses are good way to go for subjects that traditionally rely on worksheets and fill in the blank. Short responses in a second language are essential as any good world language teacher knows. Visualizing an audience often helps a student clarify his thoughts in his writing. If a student knows he has to help another person understand his viewpoint or explanation he will be make sure he understands the concept himself. After each novel or literature unit I always required a paper, because the students could not adequately write a decent paper without actually reading the material. The problem of course is that paper management is and always will be a challenge. There is no way if you assign a writing that you ignore reading and responding to the writing. If a teacher doesn't read the papers, the relationship between the students and teacher is compromised. In fact we are really talking about establishing a relationship between student and teacher through writing. Of course a teacher could have other audiences read writings, students, parents, other concerned readers, which can help handle the paper load, but I think the majority of the work will fall on the shoulders of the teacher. Handling the paperload for language arts teachers is a good topic.
Alton
This article was packed with great comprehension writing activities. The learning log on page 465 looked like a great, simple way to encourage children to think about their learning. When I first looked at the framed paragraph on page 467, I though it was a cloze response activity. Once I looked at it I realized that it is a very open ended tool to give the students who need help organizing their thoughts. I was glad to read that the author suggests weaning the students off the frame.
I liked the listen-stop-and write strategy on pg 466. I am young enough to remember my eyes glazing over as Mr. Chaffee stood a the front of the room and went on about something. He would write what he was saying on the board and expected the students to copy his writing. There was no time for comprehension, the class was just an hour long practice in taking dictation. The stop and write every two minutes or so might have had my classmates engaged enough that they wouldn’t have been dozing in the back row. I know I don’t remember what class that man was teaching.
There were many other great strategies that could be woven into content teaching. Most would not take up much of the classroom time to complete. The big question I have is how do we get this information to the content specialists? What kind of training and infrastructure would need to be put in place to support the specialists and encourage them to use the activities. In the article introduction the author repeatedly mentions the value of writing rubrics and checklists. How do content specialist learn to write the rubrics? Do reading and literacy people construct the rubrics and checklists for the content teachers?
-Amber
I think that sometimes teachers get wrapped up and consequently burned out on writing assignments that they believe must go through the entire writing process. Not every piece of writing they have students do must result in a published product. Writers workshop is the way to go on that…but this article was about writing to learn. It gives good examples of using writing for a process, and that process is to learn about themselves and their content. I agree that writing can be a much more active process that reading. Whenever I have to write about what I know, my thoughts become much more clarified…or if my thinking is unclear, I have to go back into the reading or information-gathering process.
Writing is a difficult subject to teach. It is a whole bundle of skills that don’t lend themselves to being teased out separately. That’s why checklists and rubrics let the student and teacher both set a target for quality work. Whenever I’ve used rubrics and/or designed rubrics with my students, the assignments go smoother and the effort is greater. Everyone is less confused. Students then have a good idea of the scoring “rules” and the criteria on which they’ll be judged. It makes everyone happier to know what is expected from the start.
I agree that rubrics must be referred to often and consistently in class. Students realize eventually that these rubrics are a resource. I worry about students who don’t have a checklist or rubric as handy references. They lose out on developing self-directed behavior and generally have to guess at what needs to go into a good paper.
The microtheme idea sounds interesting. I like that it can be used for many purposes: giving feedback quickly, summarizing, and review cards.
I wish my teachers would have used some of these write-to-learn techniques when I was in school. I think I would have engaged with the topics better and my writing skills would also have improved.
~Sue MacIntosh
Knipper, K., & Duggan, T. (2006). Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes. The Reading Teacher,59, 462-470.
By Ronda Schlumbohm
In response to Knipper and Duggan’s, Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes, I found the comprehension tools solid with helping children learn to think critically and synthesize information learned in school. We all know that when we are asked to write down what we think, it deepens our meaning of the topic.
Thinking about the testing results in our school district and the needs of helping those struggling students become better thinkers, I think all teachers should be given this article to think about how they can add a small writing assignment into their routines.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the most struggling students and how we can enhance their learning. What is it that we have done or not done to teach them to be better thinkers? What can we do to help them? I believe that sometimes the missing link in helping the most struggling students is that we focus on surface skills with them because those are the ones that stand out (for example, fluency in reading.) If we only work on that and not on deeper meanings, those struggling students never develop their schema. When this happens, they lack the background knowledge to connect with other things because they are working on literal and surface knowledge. This becomes a perpetual problem. To me the trick is to help them become better thinkers and decoders by never dropping the higher level questioning from their learning so that they have access to the content later on. And, what better way to help struggling kids attain knowledge than by asking them to use the most brain power and have them write down their thinking.
The strategies in this article are useful to all teachers k-12. In fact, some of these strategies I’ve used with as young as kindergarten students. The strategies in this article are practical, easy and easily adapted to almost any lesson. I also like the point that writing down one’s thinking makes every participant engage in the thinking process so that they are not just relaxing and allowing the most verbal students to dominate. It adds voice to everyone. I have found that when classrooms allow for all students to have a voice, the dynamics change and deeper learning occurs.
To me, writing is the big equalizer. When we ask our students to write down their thinking, we are differentiating to the maximum benefit.
-Ronda
I thought the the article did an excellent job explaining the importance of writing to learn across the curriculum as well as giving some excellent strategies for doing it. I think it's critical to remember that when we're teaching students to write for learning we need to model and scaffold the process so that students become strong, independent writers. I agree that it's important to include rubrics so that students know what is expected of them. One technology that enhances the ability to do this is the document camera. Numerous teachers have said that their students love to showcase their work and are more likely to accept ideas and suggestions when using the document camera.
I have used many of the strategies mentioned in the article during my years as a K-6 classroom teacher and found them very effective. My students kept both a free-write and learning journal and often we'd start or end the day with a reflective piece about one of the lessons. With the district's adoption of Thinking Maps I believe we will be able to improve on the process even more. As students create the maps they are processing the information and can then use the maps to guide their writing. I really liked the suggestion of the microthemes- it was something new I hadn't tried before and it makes writing less intimidating.
~Trish
Writing as a way of stimulating, understanding or critically analyzing material is a vital part of content learning, especially at the secondary level. Although I already use several of these techniques – I did learn about a few new ones. Using a journal entry or think, pair and write are good ways to preload information and get students excited about what is going to be learned. However, in high school social studies, my favorite tool is the analyzing and critical thinking piece. In social studies, we have to learn so many facts that are covered on a unit test - through multiple/choice, true/false and matching –it is hard to tell if students understand the concepts/ideas and are able to make connections between what is learned and the word they live in, but if they are asked to write about key ideas based on carefully written prompts or questions – they prove it through their writing. I have used this strategy for four years in my social studies classes and sometimes the depth of understanding and critical thinking displayed is truly magnificent. One strategy that I am anxious to try is the Biopoem. It will work great with either Civil War era or the Founding Fathers. But I do have a character poem coming up for Shakespeare, and I would like to see if this more structured format will mean some better results. The poems I received last year were all over the place in quality AND only half of the students turned them in to receive credit. So maybe more structure will mean more success. As a learning strategy, I fully believe in the power of writing to learn. Sure, it takes more explanation and work to provide feedback for improvement – but it does payoff in student understand, interest and enjoyment of the material.
~Jennifer Stugart
Reflections: Writing to learn…
I feel that teachers here at Tanana realize the importance of writing to learn. Our science department did this well in the past, and they continue to do so now. Even in social studies the teachers take advantage of this. One of our social studies teachers admits that grammar doesn’t make it to the top of his rubric, but he realizes how important it is for the students to reflect on what they are learning through writing.
As I rush through my extensive list of material I need to cover, I find myself putting the ‘artifacts’ from years past to the side. The rubrics are a great feature to use, so I think that if I put in something like this for the suspense papers they write:
_ /5 points Read Suspense Paper:
Rubrics not only help the students, they help me to get organized. For our team, we are having our students research a science and/or math person and then write a 5 paragraph essay. So, the first thing that we decided was that we did need a rubric. Making one for this assignment took a while, but our students are finding it easy to organize what they need to do. And, we did give them each an outline to follow.
The tools identified are valuable for everyone, and I do think that we do use many of them. Being on team helps me to hear what others are doing, and I am so glad that we are working together.
La Verne Hutto
Assignment #2 – Sarah Voorhees
Writing to learn through curriculum content areas is imperative, and the article emphasizes strategies for upper-elementary teachers. The approaches outlined are very relevant and new from the approaches I have seen in my experience that ask students to do assignments that are narrative / story types from the first person point of view.
One of the issues that seems to be left out and an ongoing challenge throughout all educational settings is cross – collaboration and blending of curriculums. When first expected to do writing assignments in content classes, students balk, wondering and voicing, “Why are we doing an English assignment in Social Studies / Science?” More consistent and heavy emphasis of writing to learn will break that mental barrier students have with compartmentalized subject
areas, and thus more at ease with writing assignments in content areas.
As for cross – collaboration, the article implies an educational model more traditional in FNSBSD that is found in junior high / middle schools and high school. Ideally, teachers should be given common collaboration time, as with the middle school model and teams vs. the junior high model. This would provide opportunity for content area teachers to share what their subject areas of study are for a given unit with each other, and for English teachers to be included and up to date as to what “topics” their shared students are studying. English assignments could have some focus on content area topics, expand on the ‘writing to learn’ assignments from content areas (which, in the article are for the most part “prewriting” in nature) through writing process pieces.
The article emphasized the importance of modeling and guided practice. Classroom generated examples of the chosen content area writing assignment could be passed on to the English teacher, so a familiar product, generated by “content experts”, is the model for both teacher and students. The article also pointed out the reality of teachers not being able to devote quality time to thoroughly grading written pieces, which can be especially true for the English teacher, who has to attend to content, organization, grammar, mechanics, etc… With both content and English teachers being familiar with not only the subject matter, but the rubric / checklist (also mentioned in the article) for a final written product, the time and labor of grading papers could be a shared responsibility, and the final grade applied to both subject areas.
In short, writing to learn can be interdependent with learning to write, and all subject areas benefit with students experiencing and learning how writing is codependent with all subject areas and arenas of life. With overlapping of subject / topic areas, both teachers and students have a more “streamlined” work experience with fewer complications. Neither are spread as thin with planning, teaching, learning new skills or subject matters, giving quality feedback and analyzing each other’s work.
Sarah Voorhees
Assignment #2-Nicki Haroldson
In Response to the "Writing to Learn across the Curriculum" paper, I feel that it has great value at to how to approach writing in a different way. I liked how they used the phrase "writing to learn" instead of "learning to write". I agree that it is important to impress on Elementary students the structure of writing, learning what a paragraph is and what sentence structure should contain. I also think that the grammar portion of writing is important, however, when students are encouraged to come up with a story and use their creative thinking skills, I think that is a great way for students to enjoy writing and are more apt to try harder in writing. I think that it is important to not only teach students the writing process, but allow them the creativity to come up with a writing assignment that helps them enjoy writing and become that catalyst that they need to enjoy learning. There are so many good ideas in this article, that as a teacher I could come up with many classroom activities that incorporate these ideas, such as the guiding writing procedures, learning logs, structured note-taking, quick writes, and framed paragraphs. I think that the models here would help teachers become more confident in what they are teaching and more organized in their strategies and grading procedures. For instance, the rubric outlined on page 463 clearly stated the quality of work expected for the grade, and if this was explained to the students so that they understood the expectations and then graded as such, it would be easier for the teacher to be more objective in assessing the assignment by following the rubric and not just an outline of what might be expected to be in the writing assignment. I feel that it is important for students to be involved in their own work, to feel like it is a part of them and not just some assignment that needs to be done.
-by Nicki Haroldson
Response to “Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes by Kathy Knipper & Timothy J. Duggan
This article highlights some valuable tools for broadening the process of teaching and utilizing writing in our curriculum. Our district test scores show that our students do not do well on the kind of writing on which they are tested and that certainly needs to be addressed. This could be due in part to what is stated in the article, “writing is often left out of content classrooms because of an over emphasis on process writing and the confusion between learning to write and writing to learn?” Do we need to be making a bigger effort to show our students how to use writing skills to be better learners in all of their subjects? And are we passing up opportunities to also reinforce writing everywhere we can? Can we not start as early as possible using “writing to learn” strategies dished out/intermingled in “fun” yet useful manners, so students progress through their education with these as basic learning tools and use the skills to be better learners across the curriculum instead of dreading every assignment mentioning the word ‘writing’?
I just last week heard about a technique called “message boarding” used in a preschool class where four year old students are given an opportunity to “write” about events they wanted to share each morning. While many of the “boards” start with pictures often letters are included as well, which can be translated with interrogation to important words. As the year progresses the letters grow into words and the writing process begins.
The authors of our assignment offer a number of other writing tools. I’m sure there are others and I am sure we can add many which enlist the use of new technologies in the effort to engage students with meaningful skills.
It seems to me that teaching and learning writing is in many places akin to the teaching and learning poetry over the years. Presented in small doses in fun non-threatening manners, inserted carefully and meaningfully in the learning process, both can become lifelong tools for improving one’s quality of life. Too often teachers uncomfortable with poetry, teach it in conventional “units” because they think that is their only option. They only create students turned off by the word ‘poetry’ instead of opening them up to the beauty and magic of language. Does this happen with writing as well?
Katie Sanders
After reading, “Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes”, I felt the article was very informative and true. I’ve heard over and over how reading and writing are integrated and I do feel they are very connected. The article explains how “integrating writing with reading enhances comprehension because the two are reciprocal processes.” This makes sense because the old teacher saying, “if you want them to learn to read teach them to write and if you want them to learn to read teach them to write.” It all makes perfect sense.
I also agree that writing is a skill that is used across the curriculum. Many times, I have used writing in science and social studies to help students with understanding. Writing to learn is different than learning to write. Learning to write involves more developmental skills whereas writing to learn involves more memory recall and comprehension. Writing skills are always developing and it is something all teachers have to help students with to grow. I know it is frustrating to work with students who have writing skills that are lagging but it is something we have to do to help them grow. I definitely agree with the article that writing is valuable for all students to the entire school process. ----Karen Mobley
Response: Writing to learn across the curriculum
In the elementary grades I think students can recognize mistakes in papers other than a friends, but when it’s a friends paper they usually fail to see any mistakes. Students still have the desire to have others like them and will not risk being too critical about another students’ paper.
Thanks Katie for the self directed writing guidelines. I think if students have a direction, guidelines or rubric to help channel their thoughts and be more specific in projects it lessens the need of critiques from the teacher or their classmates that become more harmful than helpful; harmful in the sense that the student visualizes the mistakes as more work to redo the paper. If the student has followed the guidelines or rubric there should not be as many errors.
In the upper grades there most likely are guidelines that can help others to critique papers with diplomacy. Sixth graders are not as diplomatic. A good teacher who creates a solid foundation and examples for the students is essential to successfully develop peer critiques. It is also essential for younger students to develop this skill. As the author stated students’ receiving relative and constructive feedback and ideas develop a higher level of critical thinking. As students progress and develop this skill to dicipher and analyze written communication increases their ability to have good jobs and as the author states it helps to develop their critical thinking. To be on the receiving end of peer critiques is not fun because it does mean revision needs to take place.
Dave W.
I must say that at the beginning of the year I DO focus on the writing process. I just need to get that established with my class. That being said, only when I am truly assessing their writing am I a stickler on that process. I use a number of these strategies. I wish I would use them more consistently throughout the year, but it seems like the days get shorter and shorter. How that happens after winter solstice I'm not sure, but it happens. So then becomes the heavy duty task of paper management.
I also like the idea of establishing a consistent rubric for use with this. I am in a 3/4 split this year, and it has taken some time for everyone to use that tool correctly. Also at this age, I have noticed that the average and above writers are benefitting more, because they are more able to better identify the desired traits, and then apply that in their own writing. They are able to take what they learn from their peers and use it to improve their writing. Maybe my rubrics need to be even more specific, or I need to spend even more time modeling using them.
I have noticed that when I am modeling using a docu-cam or Smartboard, students are more engaged, even my struggling writers. They can see instantly what it should look like on their paper or their laptop.
-Shane
Just like all teachers are reading teachers regarless of content, all teachers are writing teachers. If content teachers understood that writing about your learning encodes it in your brain and helps put new learning into long term storage, I think they would use it more often. I also think that short responses are good way to go for subjects that traditionally rely on worksheets and fill in the blank. Short responses in a second language are essential as any good world language teacher knows. Visualizing an audience often helps a student clarify his thoughts in his writing. If a student knows he has to help another person understand his viewpoint or explanation he will be make sure he understands the concept himself. After each novel or literature unit I always required a paper, because the students could not adequately write a decent paper without actually reading the material. The problem of course is that paper management is and always will be a challenge. There is no way if you assign a writing that you ignore reading and responding to the writing. If a teacher doesn't read the papers, the relationship between the students and teacher is compromised. In fact we are really talking about establishing a relationship between student and teacher through writing. Of course a teacher could have other audiences read writings, students, parents, other concerned readers, which can help handle the paper load, but I think the majority of the work will fall on the shoulders of the teacher. Handling the paperload for language arts teachers is a good topic.
Alton
This article was packed with great comprehension writing activities. The learning log on page 465 looked like a great, simple way to encourage children to think about their learning. When I first looked at the framed paragraph on page 467, I though it was a cloze response activity. Once I looked at it I realized that it is a very open ended tool to give the students who need help organizing their thoughts. I was glad to read that the author suggests weaning the students off the frame.
I liked the listen-stop-and write strategy on pg 466. I am young enough to remember my eyes glazing over as Mr. Chaffee stood a the front of the room and went on about something. He would write what he was saying on the board and expected the students to copy his writing. There was no time for comprehension, the class was just an hour long practice in taking dictation. The stop and write every two minutes or so might have had my classmates engaged enough that they wouldn’t have been dozing in the back row. I know I don’t remember what class that man was teaching.
There were many other great strategies that could be woven into content teaching. Most would not take up much of the classroom time to complete. The big question I have is how do we get this information to the content specialists? What kind of training and infrastructure would need to be put in place to support the specialists and encourage them to use the activities. In the article introduction the author repeatedly mentions the value of writing rubrics and checklists. How do content specialist learn to write the rubrics? Do reading and literacy people construct the rubrics and checklists for the content teachers?
-Amber
I think that sometimes teachers get wrapped up and consequently burned out on writing assignments that they believe must go through the entire writing process. Not every piece of writing they have students do must result in a published product. Writers workshop is the way to go on that…but this article was about writing to learn. It gives good examples of using writing for a process, and that process is to learn about themselves and their content. I agree that writing can be a much more active process that reading. Whenever I have to write about what I know, my thoughts become much more clarified…or if my thinking is unclear, I have to go back into the reading or information-gathering process.
Writing is a difficult subject to teach. It is a whole bundle of skills that don’t lend themselves to being teased out separately. That’s why checklists and rubrics let the student and teacher both set a target for quality work. Whenever I’ve used rubrics and/or designed rubrics with my students, the assignments go smoother and the effort is greater. Everyone is less confused. Students then have a good idea of the scoring “rules” and the criteria on which they’ll be judged. It makes everyone happier to know what is expected from the start.
I agree that rubrics must be referred to often and consistently in class. Students realize eventually that these rubrics are a resource. I worry about students who don’t have a checklist or rubric as handy references. They lose out on developing self-directed behavior and generally have to guess at what needs to go into a good paper.
The microtheme idea sounds interesting. I like that it can be used for many purposes: giving feedback quickly, summarizing, and review cards.
I wish my teachers would have used some of these write-to-learn techniques when I was in school. I think I would have engaged with the topics better and my writing skills would also have improved.
~Sue MacIntosh
Knipper, K., & Duggan, T. (2006). Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes. The Reading Teacher,59, 462-470.
By Ronda Schlumbohm
In response to Knipper and Duggan’s, Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes, I found the comprehension tools solid with helping children learn to think critically and synthesize information learned in school. We all know that when we are asked to write down what we think, it deepens our meaning of the topic.
Thinking about the testing results in our school district and the needs of helping those struggling students become better thinkers, I think all teachers should be given this article to think about how they can add a small writing assignment into their routines.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the most struggling students and how we can enhance their learning. What is it that we have done or not done to teach them to be better thinkers? What can we do to help them? I believe that sometimes the missing link in helping the most struggling students is that we focus on surface skills with them because those are the ones that stand out (for example, fluency in reading.) If we only work on that and not on deeper meanings, those struggling students never develop their schema. When this happens, they lack the background knowledge to connect with other things because they are working on literal and surface knowledge. This becomes a perpetual problem. To me the trick is to help them become better thinkers and decoders by never dropping the higher level questioning from their learning so that they have access to the content later on. And, what better way to help struggling kids attain knowledge than by asking them to use the most brain power and have them write down their thinking.
The strategies in this article are useful to all teachers k-12. In fact, some of these strategies I’ve used with as young as kindergarten students. The strategies in this article are practical, easy and easily adapted to almost any lesson. I also like the point that writing down one’s thinking makes every participant engage in the thinking process so that they are not just relaxing and allowing the most verbal students to dominate. It adds voice to everyone. I have found that when classrooms allow for all students to have a voice, the dynamics change and deeper learning occurs.
To me, writing is the big equalizer. When we ask our students to write down their thinking, we are differentiating to the maximum benefit.
-Ronda
I thought the the article did an excellent job explaining the importance of writing to learn across the curriculum as well as giving some excellent strategies for doing it. I think it's critical to remember that when we're teaching students to write for learning we need to model and scaffold the process so that students become strong, independent writers. I agree that it's important to include rubrics so that students know what is expected of them. One technology that enhances the ability to do this is the document camera. Numerous teachers have said that their students love to showcase their work and are more likely to accept ideas and suggestions when using the document camera.
I have used many of the strategies mentioned in the article during my years as a K-6 classroom teacher and found them very effective. My students kept both a free-write and learning journal and often we'd start or end the day with a reflective piece about one of the lessons. With the district's adoption of Thinking Maps I believe we will be able to improve on the process even more. As students create the maps they are processing the information and can then use the maps to guide their writing. I really liked the suggestion of the microthemes- it was something new I hadn't tried before and it makes writing less intimidating.
~Trish
Writing as a way of stimulating, understanding or critically analyzing material is a vital part of content learning, especially at the secondary level. Although I already use several of these techniques – I did learn about a few new ones. Using a journal entry or think, pair and write are good ways to preload information and get students excited about what is going to be learned. However, in high school social studies, my favorite tool is the analyzing and critical thinking piece. In social studies, we have to learn so many facts that are covered on a unit test - through multiple/choice, true/false and matching –it is hard to tell if students understand the concepts/ideas and are able to make connections between what is learned and the word they live in, but if they are asked to write about key ideas based on carefully written prompts or questions – they prove it through their writing. I have used this strategy for four years in my social studies classes and sometimes the depth of understanding and critical thinking displayed is truly magnificent. One strategy that I am anxious to try is the Biopoem. It will work great with either Civil War era or the Founding Fathers. But I do have a character poem coming up for Shakespeare, and I would like to see if this more structured format will mean some better results. The poems I received last year were all over the place in quality AND only half of the students turned them in to receive credit. So maybe more structure will mean more success. As a learning strategy, I fully believe in the power of writing to learn. Sure, it takes more explanation and work to provide feedback for improvement – but it does payoff in student understand, interest and enjoyment of the material.
~Jennifer Stugart
Reflections: Writing to learn…
I feel that teachers here at Tanana realize the importance of writing to learn. Our science department did this well in the past, and they continue to do so now. Even in social studies the teachers take advantage of this. One of our social studies teachers admits that grammar doesn’t make it to the top of his rubric, but he realizes how important it is for the students to reflect on what they are learning through writing.
As I rush through my extensive list of material I need to cover, I find myself putting the ‘artifacts’ from years past to the side. The rubrics are a great feature to use, so I think that if I put in something like this for the suspense papers they write:
_ /5 points Read Suspense Paper:
Rubrics not only help the students, they help me to get organized. For our team, we are having our students research a science and/or math person and then write a 5 paragraph essay. So, the first thing that we decided was that we did need a rubric. Making one for this assignment took a while, but our students are finding it easy to organize what they need to do. And, we did give them each an outline to follow.
The tools identified are valuable for everyone, and I do think that we do use many of them. Being on team helps me to hear what others are doing, and I am so glad that we are working together.
La Verne Hutto
Assignment #2 – Sarah Voorhees
Writing to learn through curriculum content areas is imperative, and the article emphasizes strategies for upper-elementary teachers. The approaches outlined are very relevant and new from the approaches I have seen in my experience that ask students to do assignments that are narrative / story types from the first person point of view.
One of the issues that seems to be left out and an ongoing challenge throughout all educational settings is cross – collaboration and blending of curriculums. When first expected to do writing assignments in content classes, students balk, wondering and voicing, “Why are we doing an English assignment in Social Studies / Science?” More consistent and heavy emphasis of writing to learn will break that mental barrier students have with compartmentalized subject
areas, and thus more at ease with writing assignments in content areas.
As for cross – collaboration, the article implies an educational model more traditional in FNSBSD that is found in junior high / middle schools and high school. Ideally, teachers should be given common collaboration time, as with the middle school model and teams vs. the junior high model. This would provide opportunity for content area teachers to share what their subject areas of study are for a given unit with each other, and for English teachers to be included and up to date as to what “topics” their shared students are studying. English assignments could have some focus on content area topics, expand on the ‘writing to learn’ assignments from content areas (which, in the article are for the most part “prewriting” in nature) through writing process pieces.
The article emphasized the importance of modeling and guided practice. Classroom generated examples of the chosen content area writing assignment could be passed on to the English teacher, so a familiar product, generated by “content experts”, is the model for both teacher and students. The article also pointed out the reality of teachers not being able to devote quality time to thoroughly grading written pieces, which can be especially true for the English teacher, who has to attend to content, organization, grammar, mechanics, etc… With both content and English teachers being familiar with not only the subject matter, but the rubric / checklist (also mentioned in the article) for a final written product, the time and labor of grading papers could be a shared responsibility, and the final grade applied to both subject areas.
In short, writing to learn can be interdependent with learning to write, and all subject areas benefit with students experiencing and learning how writing is codependent with all subject areas and arenas of life. With overlapping of subject / topic areas, both teachers and students have a more “streamlined” work experience with fewer complications. Neither are spread as thin with planning, teaching, learning new skills or subject matters, giving quality feedback and analyzing each other’s work.
Sarah Voorhees
Assignment #2-Nicki Haroldson
In Response to the "Writing to Learn across the Curriculum" paper, I feel that it has great value at to how to approach writing in a different way. I liked how they used the phrase "writing to learn" instead of "learning to write". I agree that it is important to impress on Elementary students the structure of writing, learning what a paragraph is and what sentence structure should contain. I also think that the grammar portion of writing is important, however, when students are encouraged to come up with a story and use their creative thinking skills, I think that is a great way for students to enjoy writing and are more apt to try harder in writing. I think that it is important to not only teach students the writing process, but allow them the creativity to come up with a writing assignment that helps them enjoy writing and become that catalyst that they need to enjoy learning. There are so many good ideas in this article, that as a teacher I could come up with many classroom activities that incorporate these ideas, such as the guiding writing procedures, learning logs, structured note-taking, quick writes, and framed paragraphs. I think that the models here would help teachers become more confident in what they are teaching and more organized in their strategies and grading procedures. For instance, the rubric outlined on page 463 clearly stated the quality of work expected for the grade, and if this was explained to the students so that they understood the expectations and then graded as such, it would be easier for the teacher to be more objective in assessing the assignment by following the rubric and not just an outline of what might be expected to be in the writing assignment. I feel that it is important for students to be involved in their own work, to feel like it is a part of them and not just some assignment that needs to be done.
-by Nicki Haroldson
Response to “Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes by Kathy Knipper & Timothy J. Duggan
This article highlights some valuable tools for broadening the process of teaching and utilizing writing in our curriculum. Our district test scores show that our students do not do well on the kind of writing on which they are tested and that certainly needs to be addressed. This could be due in part to what is stated in the article, “writing is often left out of content classrooms because of an over emphasis on process writing and the confusion between learning to write and writing to learn?” Do we need to be making a bigger effort to show our students how to use writing skills to be better learners in all of their subjects? And are we passing up opportunities to also reinforce writing everywhere we can? Can we not start as early as possible using “writing to learn” strategies dished out/intermingled in “fun” yet useful manners, so students progress through their education with these as basic learning tools and use the skills to be better learners across the curriculum instead of dreading every assignment mentioning the word ‘writing’?
I just last week heard about a technique called “message boarding” used in a preschool class where four year old students are given an opportunity to “write” about events they wanted to share each morning. While many of the “boards” start with pictures often letters are included as well, which can be translated with interrogation to important words. As the year progresses the letters grow into words and the writing process begins.
The authors of our assignment offer a number of other writing tools. I’m sure there are others and I am sure we can add many which enlist the use of new technologies in the effort to engage students with meaningful skills.
It seems to me that teaching and learning writing is in many places akin to the teaching and learning poetry over the years. Presented in small doses in fun non-threatening manners, inserted carefully and meaningfully in the learning process, both can become lifelong tools for improving one’s quality of life. Too often teachers uncomfortable with poetry, teach it in conventional “units” because they think that is their only option. They only create students turned off by the word ‘poetry’ instead of opening them up to the beauty and magic of language. Does this happen with writing as well?
Katie Sanders
After reading, “Writing to learn across the curriculum: Tools for comprehension in content area classes”, I felt the article was very informative and true. I’ve heard over and over how reading and writing are integrated and I do feel they are very connected. The article explains how “integrating writing with reading enhances comprehension because the two are reciprocal processes.” This makes sense because the old teacher saying, “if you want them to learn to read teach them to write and if you want them to learn to read teach them to write.” It all makes perfect sense.
I also agree that writing is a skill that is used across the curriculum. Many times, I have used writing in science and social studies to help students with understanding. Writing to learn is different than learning to write. Learning to write involves more developmental skills whereas writing to learn involves more memory recall and comprehension. Writing skills are always developing and it is something all teachers have to help students with to grow. I know it is frustrating to work with students who have writing skills that are lagging but it is something we have to do to help them grow. I definitely agree with the article that writing is valuable for all students to the entire school process. ----Karen Mobley
Response: Writing to learn across the curriculum
In the elementary grades I think students can recognize mistakes in papers other than a friends, but when it’s a friends paper they usually fail to see any mistakes. Students still have the desire to have others like them and will not risk being too critical about another students’ paper.
Thanks Katie for the self directed writing guidelines. I think if students have a direction, guidelines or rubric to help channel their thoughts and be more specific in projects it lessens the need of critiques from the teacher or their classmates that become more harmful than helpful; harmful in the sense that the student visualizes the mistakes as more work to redo the paper. If the student has followed the guidelines or rubric there should not be as many errors.
In the upper grades there most likely are guidelines that can help others to critique papers with diplomacy. Sixth graders are not as diplomatic. A good teacher who creates a solid foundation and examples for the students is essential to successfully develop peer critiques. It is also essential for younger students to develop this skill. As the author stated students’ receiving relative and constructive feedback and ideas develop a higher level of critical thinking. As students progress and develop this skill to dicipher and analyze written communication increases their ability to have good jobs and as the author states it helps to develop their critical thinking. To be on the receiving end of peer critiques is not fun because it does mean revision needs to take place.
Dave W.
I must say that at the beginning of the year I DO focus on the writing process. I just need to get that established with my class. That being said, only when I am truly assessing their writing am I a stickler on that process. I use a number of these strategies. I wish I would use them more consistently throughout the year, but it seems like the days get shorter and shorter. How that happens after winter solstice I'm not sure, but it happens. So then becomes the heavy duty task of paper management.
I also like the idea of establishing a consistent rubric for use with this. I am in a 3/4 split this year, and it has taken some time for everyone to use that tool correctly. Also at this age, I have noticed that the average and above writers are benefitting more, because they are more able to better identify the desired traits, and then apply that in their own writing. They are able to take what they learn from their peers and use it to improve their writing. Maybe my rubrics need to be even more specific, or I need to spend even more time modeling using them.
I have noticed that when I am modeling using a docu-cam or Smartboard, students are more engaged, even my struggling writers. They can see instantly what it should look like on their paper or their laptop.
-Shane